Common tools for performing controlled crimp terminations on electrical contacts, terminals, and similar terminations in production wire harness operations are mechanical, and require external, periodic Go-No/Go gauging to verify the calibration is accurate, and wear or handling damage has not disrupted the closure dimensions. The process of mechanical Go-No/Go gauging and other inspections can only be performed when tools are taken out of service, and therefore, are not available for production. The frequency of external Go-No/Go gauging and inspection of production line tools is usually performed on a tool based on a period of time, rather than the number of crimping cycles that the tool has experienced. The reason for this is that mechanical crimp tools don't typically have cycle counters, and therefore, the number of cycles on a tool cannot be readily determined. Recent studies have shown that as much as one-third of a crimp tool life cycle is spent in testing and calibration.
The present invention incorporates electronic monitoring of crimp tool operation and provides a method and apparatus for tool inspection that avoids the need for a skilled calibration expert to perform such tool inspection. In particular, the present invention provides an automated inspection apparatus that uses non-contact measuring to gage tool wear and calibration. In one form, the invention also includes a new design of crimp tool system that can be powered pneumatically, hydraulically, or electrically and uses a very low friction, metal-to-metal bottoming design, so that the crimping process is consistent, and long lasting. Common crimping tool designs for 4 axis movement usually incorporates 4 cams and a rotating element in the tool. Wear and high friction are common failings of the four cam tool design. The crimp tool design of the present invention eliminates the use of the rotating element to avoid this source of tool failure.
In addition to the above features, the present invention incorporates a wire guide into a hand-held crimp tool. Historically, only high volume production tools with complex feed systems have wire funnels/guides to help the user get all strands of wire into the wire barrel of a contact or terminal. Further, common hand-held crimp tools require the operator to verify that the correct settings for crimp depth, the correct positioner, and other variables (such as wire size) are correctly managed in a manual system. Weight and size are usually a problem with pneumatic and electric crimp tools where they are intended to be used as portable tools on a wiring harness board, and on second end terminations. Still further, most records that relate to crimping tools are kept, collected, and managed manually. Only very basic records are usually collected and kept on mechanical hand-held crimping tools.